lion's den
8
6.8
- noun
- /ˈlaɪənz dɛn/
- Informal
:
guarida del león
- Her decision to confront the critics at the conference was akin to walking into a lion's den.
- go into the lion's den
- walked into the lion's den
- straight into the lion's den
Examples
-
Entering the meeting felt like stepping into a lion's den, surrounded by people who disagreed with me.
-
Welcome to the lion's den, my friend.
-
I love that he has no fear; he will go straight into the lion's den and stand firm on his ideas and values.
Blog text (12) -
You're in the lion's den now.
-
He was on enemy ground, walking straight into the lion's den.
Fiction book (2000) -
My son and I walked into the lion's den this morning, and walked out with the Golden Fleece.
-
You know, you've got a lot of courage, walkin' into the lion's den.
-
Oh, speaking of angels, Mr. Elton, your sermon on Daniel in the lion's den was so inspiring.
-
I think it's pretty darn gutsy of Todd to stick his head in the lion's den here, whew!
Blog text (26) -
He bravely stepped into the lion's den to defend his beliefs despite the hostile audience.
Synonyms
∞
3.7
A very painful or difficult experience
179
8.4
To feel great pain or trouble and be very unhappy
9
6.8
A place or situation that causes great suffering and pain
7
8.9
The most dangerous part at the center of a situation
5
8.8
A very bad situation that makes you feel unhappy
3
9.6
Put someone in a situation where people harshly criticise them without support
3
7.3
An unpleasant, chaotic place where people act badly toward each other
How Dangerous
Surface Forms
Morphology
lion's + den
The sense 'a place or situation of great danger or hostility' is directly derivable from combining 'lion' (a dangerous predator) with 'den' (a lair or hiding place); a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer a dangerous location. This is a conventional animal-based metaphor following a familiar possessive-noun + place pattern and is cross-linguistically common, so the expression is transparent to learners.
Etymology
Lion's den comes from a Bible story about Daniel, who was put into a den with hungry lions and had to face them. The strong image of being inside a place full of lions led people to use lion's den to mean 'a dangerous or hostile place' today.